Ferdinand: 'Penrice is a massive appointment'

DIRECTOR of Football Les Ferdinand has described Gary Penrice’s return to the club as a ‘massive appointment’ for QPR.

Having spent four years at Loftus Road as a striker between 1991 and 1995, where he played in the same side as Ferdinand and manager Ian Holloway, Penrice returned as recruitment consultant earlier this month.

Penrice worked with Holloway during the R’s boss’s first stint as manager in W12, and Ferdinand revealed it was Holloway’s return to the club in November which enabled him to bring Penrice in after several previous attempts.

“Gary has got great experience having working in this area since he retired from football almost 20 years ago.

“I have been trying to get him in for the past couple of years and I thought I had him at the start of this season. He came to one of our early games, and he liked and understood what we were doing and looking to do.

“But Ollie coming in as manager helped us get Gary across the line because he knows him well.

“From Gary’s point of view, he wanted to know the manager’s viewpoint a bit better, so this worked perfectly for all parties.”

Penrice has worked in recruitment and scouting roles at a host of clubs, including Plymouth, Leicester, Wigan, Everton, Stoke and West Brom, and Ferdinand added: “We are delighted he has joined us – and he’s been getting stuck into his work straight away.

“He has an affection for the club and is excited about helping us build something here. It’s a challenge but he understands it.”

As QPR look to return to the days of recruiting young, hungry players, investment has been made in the club’s recruitment and scouting structure, and Ferdinand explained: “We have also brought in Kevin Reeves as regional scout to assist our recruitment team.

“He is another person with a great reputation in this field, so we are starting to get the people in the building that I’ve wanted for a while.